


Five Kisses (Plus One)

by Joanne_c



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Blink and you'll miss it Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 20:55:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2825828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joanne_c/pseuds/Joanne_c
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard and William kiss a lot over the years. Significance varies</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Kisses (Plus One)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kyra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyra/gifts).



The first kiss could be written off as a mistake. Too late after work, so tired that there's no difference between exhaustion and drunkenness, or at least that's the excuse they murmur to each other after they separate. It’s not like they’re gay. Leonard’s never, ever going to forget that kiss, though. He’s never going to talk about it again. “It never happened,” is also whispered between them.

The second kiss could be a secret, even though it goes far beyond kissing. Neither of them actually knows what to do, but instinct helps, so do hands on each other. It’s messy and sticky in a way it’s never been with women. It feels so much better than it ever has with women, but neither one can possibly admit that. It’s hard enough not being able to blame it on alcohol or exhaustion. Leonard’s never entirely sure how it did happen. Maybe they should talk about it, but he knows that means that they have to admit something’s actually happening. Even though he knows it is, he knows better than to tell William. He’s already in denial so deeply that Leonard feels that there should be pyramids around, not that Leonard doesn’t have his own form of denial. Cleaning up is an adventure.

The third kiss is forbidden – though Leonard isn’t sure it should be more or less so than any others. Also very technically it’s not the third kiss. He’s probably lost count given how many times they’d kissed when... whatever they should call it happened. It wasn’t sex. Not the way anyone would consider it to be sex. Hands on each other, sticky mess... foreplay, maybe. But not sex. There’s a part of Leonard that wonders how men...well, do. He could ask George. But then George would know, or at least he’d suspect something.

The forbidden part is that they aren’t alone. Well, they are here, there’s a party out there, Gene was celebrating something, Leonard can’t quite remember the actual reason for the party. But they’re in an isolated corner – almost a room of its own, and William had kissed him. Right there. In all but public. Leonard isn’t sure what to think of it, if he could think. Slowly, he moved back. “Later,” he murmurs. “This isn’t over.”

Maybe separating now isn’t a good idea. But being caught kissing would be a worse one.

The fourth kiss happens much later. A decade later. Not quite an actual decade after the first kiss, not that Leonard would know that precisely. The show’s cancellation makes it easier to avoid intimacy, at least if they want to, and neither pushes. But being together again, a new movie, it’s not dead and that feels so good that a few drinks turns into a few more, and while there’s food it’s still easy to blame anything that might or might not happen on the alcohol. Not that much does. A kiss, more chaste than many of the others, probably more than even the first one, and as always, not another word. Leonard knows there are reasons not to. Wives. Families. Careers, such as they are. But he’s more aware now. Of how many others like... well, not like them, but like they could be. If they wanted. He doesn’t know what he wants, and he tells himself that’s why he doesn’t push.

The fifth kiss is the one where something almost happens. Well, something does. It’s also the kiss where Leonard doesn’t let it stop at a kiss. He knows how to do this now – maybe not with a man, but it can’t be that much different, and with lubricant and careful preparation, he finds that no, it really isn’t. It might feel better, or different, or something else, but he knows one thing, this is home, no matter what else happens.

They don’t separate, no one walks away after it’s over. William will joke later about how he couldn’t, but Leonard never completely believes that. He could have if he’d wanted, but he doesn’t, they stay there, together, and fall asleep.

It’s more of a miracle that neither of them makes an excuse the next morning. Coffee and toast and conversation that is surprisingly not awkward. Of course they don’t talk about what happened, not yet. But not awkward is really, really good. The kisses are better, and this is actually the first time Leonard feels comfortable enough to initiate them.

He might not have been expecting to be laid on the bed again, and his careful preparations of the night before were mimicked on himself. He wonders if it felt that good for William, but all too soon he’s only able to think of the pleasure and the slight pain, and then the overwhelming pleasure.

“We’re doing this again,” William says as they lay together after. Leonard nods. He’s not about to argue.

It goes along for a while. There’s sneaking around, and divorces and marriages that don’t ever affect them, which might sound callous, but what they have is different, separate. It’s not all smooth sailing, of course. There are moments of guilt, of thinking there could be more, of feeling that there should be more. Separations when they might not want to but there’s other reasons for them not to take time alone.

The sixth kiss is so much later. They’d thought it was done, several TV series and they’d finished their own – sixth – movie. The next crew had had their share of movies. But there’s a new idea, one that neither of them is sure about at first, and William keeps more aloof from it – it’s his choice and he doesn’t even object when Leonard and the others go into meetings, and when Leonard accepts the role, there’s another wonderful night together. He watches the young ones, figures out Zach from some cues that haven’t changed since George had to hide them, it takes longer for him to get a read on Chris though. Still, he encourages, uses his ‘wise mentor’ status for good, and while he never gets to know for sure, he hopes it leads to good things. He does have long conversations about how it used to be with Chris, and he’s surprised when the young man looks into his eyes and asks if he and William were ever together. Leonard shakes his head, murmurs “almost,” because that’s how it’s always been, even recently.

“You should tell him,” quietly said, then they go back to running lines. But the idea is planted.

Planted deeply enough for Leonard to finally say the words, a few nights later. It’s an ordinary evening for them, dinner and time together, all too rare nowadays. Soft kisses on the couch, and then Leonard murmurs the words. “I love you, you know that?”

“I know. What took you so long to say it?” William asks.

Leonard has no idea how he doesn’t hit him, but he’s too busy smiling to be angry.

Kissing his co-worker all those years ago had been a better idea than he could’ve ever known at the time.


End file.
